Phone-line Support Volunteers

confuseddotcom

Have many experience with volunteering manning the phone-lines for the likes of Childline, ISPCC, Barnados etc. ....... And what is it like to work for those Organisations? Thanks.

epiphone

I can only speak for Childline. It is a professionally run organization with good training etc. However, they treat all calls as genuine even when it is obviously a 65 year old man saying his name is Alice and is 12 years old!

It is very frustrating working there as very few of the calls are genuine. Most are group calls with lots of kids roaring into the phone and you are not allowed to hangup.

A lot of the calls are vile highly sexualised and crossed my personal boundaries.

If only genuine callers rang there would be very little need for the existence of the service.

However, it is rewarding when you do get a genuine call.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

childsplay

I have also volunteered with Childline. The previous poster is 100% right. There are a huge number of sexualised calls and they can be very upsetting. However, the training for these calls is very good and you will have support around you. The ISPCC have been looking at changing its response to these calls and they are really beginning to listen to their volunteers. I can tell you that for all the prank calls you get, the real calls will really get you. They may be a rarity but they will take it out of you. A child in need has a way of touching you like nothing else. I liked my time there and will be going back when I can. I only left as I took on a new job and felt that I needed time to settle into it. The shifts are 4 hours long and you will be working with other volunteers. So you have a network of support around you. They offer training on a regular basis and do supervision monthly. This is a great place to ask questions and develop your skills. I'd give it a big thumbs up over all.

You can hang up by the way. Where a call is upsetting you or you perceive it to be threatening or frightening, you can end the call. Its a health and safety thing apparently.

eviltwin

I went through the training with Childline and the points the previous two posters make put me off.

The first thing they tell you is half the calls go unanswered and yet they are happy to waste time talking to grown men who are obviously not children and just want to get their rocks off.

I did volunteering with another charity on their helpline and those calls were not tolerated, you were advised to end them as quickly as possible so as to give time to genuine cases and it worked well for all concerned. These guys get the message after a while and stop calling.

When I mentioned this to Childline I was given a stock answer about how they would not recommend that approach etc. In the end I had to leave because I felt my time was being abused, I was there to help genuine cases not time wasters.

Musefan

I have been with childline for over a year and I can 100% confirm adult callers are NOT tolerated. It is not covered in the training, but if you had progressed to volunteering on the phones, you would have been introduced to procedures which govern how to end adult calls immediately.

It is an amazing organisation.

epiphone

Musefan wrote: »

I have been with childline for over a year and I can 100% confirm adult callers are NOT tolerated. It is not covered in the training, but if you had progressed to volunteering on the phones, you would have been introduced to procedures which govern how to end adult calls immediately.

It is an amazing organisation.

I did work on the phones and all calls are treated as genuine. If a caller admits he is an adult then the call is not tolerated - I agree. But if an adult caller says he is 6 or 12 or 16 the call IS tolerated and the caller is treated as the child he proports to be.

Musefan

Nope, sorry, the above is currently not the case. Perhaps this changed after you stopped volunteering, but this is not how it works. I don't want to give the ins-and outs of how this operates, is but identified adult callers, regardless of the age they present with, are not engaged with.